AssAsInAssassin:Straelbora: Spartacus Outlaw: Why do Americans insist on pronouncing "u" as "oo"? Surely Vlad doesn't pronounce his last name "Pootin".

How do you think it's pronounced? "Pyootin?" The core of his last name is путь, transliterated as " put' ," meaning "path" in Russian. The last name Путин is pronounce "Poot (with a softening of the 'T")-een."

Thank you. I decided it was too much trouble to do the research you thankfully did. My Russian classes are decades behind me, but from what I remember, "Poo-teen" is probably correct.